JADOT, Jean-Nicolas - b. 1710 Luneville, d. 1761 Ville-Issey

Jean-Nicolas Jadot de Ville Issey, French architect from Lorraine. Trained by Germain Boffrand (1667-1754), he settled in Vienna under the aegis of Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine (1708-65) and consort of Maria Theresia (reigned 1740-80). Jadot designed the Arco San Gallo, Florence (1738-39), to commemorate Francis Stephen’s accession to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1739), and, after he arrived in Vienna, was the architect of the Alte Aula, or Old University (later Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1753-55), and the Schönbrunn Menagerie, both in the Louis XV style. He may have been the author of the plan for the Royal Palace in Budapest (1749).

Triumphal Arch

After the death of Gian Gastone, the last Medici grand duke, in 1737, Florence prepared to welcome Francis Stephen of Lorraine, who was to take possession of the government of Tuscany, as established by the preliminaries of the Treaty of Vienna, signed in 1735. On the evening of 20 January 1739, Francis of Lorraine, accompanied by his consort Maria Theresa of Habsburg, solemnly entered Florence, passing under the triumphal arch specially erected outside Porta San Gallo, designed by the architect from Lorraine, Jean-Nicolas Jadot, and abounding with statues and trophies.